Pretty sure my alternator blew out tonight. About 3 miles from home, smelled burnt something - thought it smelled a little electrical, but a little like smoked tires. Thought that was weird, but I had my windows down. Later, I noticed that my headlights seemed dimmer - but since the time change, figured my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then I got about .25 mile away from home and the radio started cutting in and out... by the time I hit my driveway, the low battery indicator kicked on, then the VSC/Traction combo hit.

Battery took 15 amps for about 2-3 hours to fully charge back up, so I'm guessing the clutch failed and it fried itself. 106,500 miles.

 

DId you check the belt to see if it is broken. If so it can be the alternator or the AC compressor that blew. Try turning the alternator pulley by hand to see if it would turn. If the belt blew then you would drain the battery and you would come close to overheating the car.

 

Belt didn't blow, AC was working fine for the remainder of the trip. I figure the clutch pack on the front of the alternator went kaboom.

After charging it last night @ 15 amps for 3 hours, it started like a champ this morning with no warning lights. Drove to a local shop about 1/3 of a mile away no issues, but there was a little whine coming from the engine bay. No volt meter on the car, so I couldn't tell but if I had to guess there was no charging happening.

Called the Lexus dealer first to get it in (you know, loaner right?) which is about 20 miles away; figured I'd get it towed and get some other work done on it. But the local guy got me in and said it would be done today, so I dropped it off and walked back home. win-win; this guy will be cheaper - and he's GOOD too; helped us out tons with our Freestyle and it's heating issue 2 winters ago.

 

Good local mechanic == win!!!

 

Oh yeah; they've been excellent to me and other friends in the area. Just got the call; definitely fried, replacing it and will have it back today

 

Car back in my garage. Only grumble I have is that the local mechanics have no clue about how the push clips work; most were in "position 3" which is the removal position. Oh well, time and temperature have taken their toll on them (some have only 2 or 3 legs left) so I ordered 20 off of Amazon.

 

Is this for the engine covers? I ditched mine a couple of years ago when replacing the headlight bulbs. PITA and they don't do anything to keep the engine clean. All the muck and stuff comes up from the bottom.

 

Alternators don't have clutches. You must be thinking of the AC compressor.

 

The alternator on our cars has a one way clutch.

 

Engine covers aren't to keep the engine from getting dirty, it's to visually make the engine compartment clean.

I ordered the slightly wrong clips initially; I got a bunch of clips that are 2 position, not the 3 position clips. Ordered another set of 10 that claim to be the OEM 3 position (with a different part #) so we'll see how those work Sunday when they show up. Also just put on some new strut/lifters for the hood.

 

Exactly; think bicycle pedaling. When the engine speeds up, it spins the alternator windings. On deceleration of the serpentine belt, the windings spin freely. Supposedly an EPA / noise thing from the videos I've watched.

 

 

I'm curious how much this cost you. I replaced ours myself which was not an easy job. The decoupler pulley fried at 155K. Paid about $170 for an Oreilly alt with a lifetime warranty. Then got a voltmeter that goes in the cig lighter. Works great to monitor voltage. Came in handy when replacement alt went bad at 179K. Told wife to let me know if voltage dropped below 13 volts while running. It did and got it replaced under the lifetime warranty. Purring at 14.1 volts ...

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...regulator.html
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I paid a local shop a little over 800; book time was 5 hours for the job. I don't mind wrenching on cars - but I definitely don't have time like I used to.